James Potter  Head Boy?
by Wishing-for-a-Wand
Summary: James Potter is Hogwarts' new Head Boy, and Lily Evans is having some trouble accepting this fact, sure he will be the worst one in history.  But after an overheard conversation in the common room, she is forced to change her mind and maybe her heart.


James Potter - Head Boy?

"James Potter!" Lily Evans fumed. "What was Dumbledore thinking?" The newly appointed Head Girl let out a sigh of frustration as she stomped down the corridor. "I could think of ten people better suited to be Head Boy. Why would he choose Potter? There is no one I would hate working with more."

While Lily ranted about her partner, her friend Remus Lupin remained silent. A faint smile touched his lips. The situation was rather humorous, though he doubted that Lily would see that. The very boy who professed to be madly in love with her and whom she had claimed to hate passionately was now going to be her companion for much of the year.

When Lily turned to him, Remus quickly doused his smile. "You'd rather work with Snape?" he questioned quietly.

Lily was surprised by Remus' question. "Well, of course not Snape. That would be horrible, but he is the only one who could make it worse." Lily had not spoken to Sev, no Snape, for over a year now. Not since their friendship had ended in fifth year. Remus was right; she would not want to be partnered with Snape.

"But choosing Snape would make more sense," she conceded. "He was at least a Prefect. Potter didn't even make it that far. He's been nothing but Quidditch captain." She spoke the title with disdain, as though it was an insult in itself.

"I know, Lily. I'm as shocked as you are." Actually, he had thought that his friend was playing a trick on him when he announced that he was Head Boy. Sirius had too. It had taken the letter from Dumbledore to convince them. No one had been surprised that Lily was made Head Girl, but James Potter was not exactly a model student.

But Lily wasn't done attacking the new Head Boy. "It's just that he's so egotistical and self centered! Why couldn't Dumbledore choose someone halfway decent to be Head Boy? Why couldn't he have chosen you, Remus?"

This time Remus allowed Lily to see him grin. "So I'm halfway decent?"

Lily smiled back at him. "You're more than halfway decent. You're a wonderful student, and you've been a great Prefect. I don't see why you aren't Head Boy now."

Remus shrugged. "I don't know." Not that he was complaining. He hadn't really wanted to be Head Boy. He already had responsibilities as a Prefect, and being a teenage werewolf was difficult enough.

"And Potter is a Marauder; one of the school's biggest troublemakers! I don't think that he can be trusted with the Head Boy's duties!" Lily continued.

Remus arched an eyebrow. "And you think that I would be a better Head Boy? I'm a Marauder too, you know."

Lily turned back to her friend. "Well, yes, you are. And I know that you can cause as much trouble as the rest of them," here they both grinned, "but you are not an arrogant, self-absorbed bullying toe rag!"

Remus sighed at Lily's definition of his friend. "And neither is James, at least, not anymore. He's really grown up over the summer. I think that if you would just give a chance ... Well, he might surprise you."

Lily shook her head. She was sure that after six years of being pursued by him she knew everything there was to know about James Potter. She was sure that nothing he did could surprise her. "I don't know."

The two of them had stopped walking. "Give him a chance, Lily. I think he might actually do a good job." Remus had complete faith in his friend, as well as in the headmaster who had chosen him. James truly was a different person then he had been a year ago, and no one had ever know Dumbledore to be wrong.

Lily took a deep breath. What Remus said made sense. She had only seen James on the train and in the Prefect meeting so far this year, but he had refrained from hexing any Slytherins even when Snape made a rude comment about 'filthy halfbreeds and mudbloods'. Instead of lashing out with his wand, James had countered with well placed words and Snape had backed down. This was not what she would have expected from the boy who claimed to love her. Maybe he could surprise her after all.

"Alright," she agreed. "I'll give him a chance." She wasn't saying that she would go out with him or anything, but she would try to be a friend. "But as for him changing, I'll believe it when I see it."

Remus smiled. Lily and James were two of his best friends, and he hoped that they would learn to get along.

The two friends returned to patrolling the halls, knowing that their last year would be one different from anything they had ever known. They hoped that the change was for the better.

"This is going to be the best year ever!" Sirius Black crowed to his friends as they sat in the Gryffindor common room on the first night of school. Most of the other students had gone to bed soon after the feast and the Marauders were among the few still downstairs. They had a pile of sweets stolen from the kitchens between them and had just finished a round of Exploding Snap which Sirius won.

"Yeah, it's the last one we've got," James Potter said, running a hand through his already messy black hair. "We had better make it the best."

"An how will this year be the best?" Remus Lupin asked, his face pale in the moonlight shining from the window. He shifted slightly so that the moon's beam moved off of him and fell on the seat beside him.

"Yeah, what's going to be different?" asked the chubby boy beside Sirius. Peter Pettigrew stuffed a chocolate frog in his mouth before completing the question so that it came out muffled in a sticky voice.

Sirius brushed his long, black hair our of his eyes, and turned to his friends. "Well," he drawled, "This year Prongs is Head Boy! So we can get away with all sorts of stuff!"

James looked up form the Caldron Cake he was munching on at the sound of his nickname. Peter stared blankly at Sirius, not understanding what he meant. Remus frowned at him, but Sirius paid him no mind.

"What do you mean?" Peter asked.

Sirius was only too willing to explain to his confused friend. "You see, Wormtail," he replied using Peter's nickname. "If James is in charge, we can't really get in trouble, now can we?" Peter nodded uncertainly.

Remus shook his head and opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by James. "I don't think that's how it works, Padfoot."

Sirius and Remus both looked surprised. "Sure it is," Sirius assured him. "You're Head Boy. You can get us out of all sorts of trouble. We can rule the school!"

James shook his head like Remus had done earlier. "No, Sirius, being Head Boy doesn't mean that I can just mess around. I don't think that's what it's about. It had responsibilities." Now Sirius looked appalled and Remus looked proud. "I mean, Remus has been Prefect for a couple of years now, and he never let us get away with anything too terrible. He stopped us if we went too far."

Sirius raked his hand through his hair, much like James did when he was frustrated. "Yeah, but that's Moony. You're not. You're James, and you never back away from trouble."

James grinned. "That's me. And we can still have fun, but I'm not going to abuse this position. Dumbledore obviously thought I could handle it, and I don't want to let him down."

"I always thought that man was crazy," Sirius muttered. He sighed. "Alright, I get it. This is serious to you," then he smiled. "And I'm very good at being Sirius."

Remus groaned and Peter chuckled. James laughed even though they had all heard variations of that joke for the past six years.

Sirius grinned at the effect his name joke was having. "Alright, but we still have to pull a few pranks. I have a reputation to keep here. We all do. We're Marauders."

Remus smiled. He was glad that James had decided no to abuse his position. The old James wouldn't have hesitated to do so, but he really grown up a lot. "Okay," he said. "We need to celebrate. Let's go down to the kitchen again since Sirius ate most of what we've got up here. Grab your cloak, Prongs."

By this time, even more of the students had gone up to the dorms. The boys couldn't see anyone around and assumed that their fellow Gryffindors were all asleep. James fetched his cloak from upstairs and the four boys were on their way.

As the portrait swung closed behind them, another waking Gryffindor looked over her chair, her gaze following them. Her red hair spread over her shoulders as she turned. Lily Evans had been doing some light reading, but once the Marauders had started talking her book has seemed less interesting. She hadn't meant to eavesdrop, but she couldn't help herself.

Lily had thought that she had known the new Head Boy, but the James Potter she knew would have never turned down the opportunity to wreck havoc. This new boy seemed more mature. The joker was there, but this was a side to him that she had never seen. Maybe Remus had been right about him. Maybe it would be so bad getting to know this new James.


End file.
